Semiconductor package having improved thermal interface between semiconductor die and heat spreading structure

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor package including a base comprising an upper surface and a lower surface that is opposite to the upper surface; a radio-frequency (RF) module embedded near the upper surface of the base; an integrated circuit (IC) die mounted on the lower surface of the base in a flip-chip manner so that a backside of the IC die is available for heat dissipation; a plurality of conductive structures disposed on the lower surface of the base and arranged around the IC die; and a metal thermal interface layer comprising a backside metal layer that is in contact with the backside of the IC die, and a solder paste conformally printed on the backside metal layer.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/742,850 filed Jan. 14, 2020, which claims priority from U.S.provisional application No. 62/798,589 filed Jan. 30, 2019 and priorityfrom U.S. provisional application No. 62/881,423 filed Aug. 1, 2019. Allof the above-mentioned applications are included in their entiretiesherein by reference.

BACKGROUND

As known in the art, a semiconductor chip package typically comprises anintegrated circuit (IC) die and a molding compound that encapsulates theIC die. During operation, the IC die generates significant amount ofheat, which can cause damage to the IC die or reduce the IC reliability.In a hybrid chip scale package (hybrid CSP), for example, the heatgenerated from one IC die such as an SoC die can be detrimental to theproximate IC die such as a DRAM die stacked on the SoC die, which leadsto reduced overall chip performance.

To dissipate heat away from the IC die, the semiconductor chip packageis often connected with an external heat spreading structure such as aheat spreader or heat sink attached to the IC die. To spread heat to theambient environment, the heat spreading structure is often mounted ontoa contact surface of the semiconductor chip package by applying athermal interface material (TIM) such as thermal greases or conductivepolymers on the contact surface.

However, the conventional thermal solution involving the use of TIM isnot satisfactory. The conventional design using the TIM has problemssuch as thermal bottleneck and poor adhesion. It is desirable to havelow contact resistance and good thermal interface between the IC die andthe heat spreading structures for efficient heat conduction from the ICdie through the heat spreading structures. It is also desirable toprovide an improved heat transfer mechanism/medium employed between thecomponents to effectively transfer heat away from the IC die.

SUMMARY

It is one object of the present disclosure to provide an improvedsemiconductor package with an improved thermal interface in order tosolve the above-mentioned prior art shortcomings or problems.

One aspect of the invention provides a semiconductor package including abase comprising an upper surface and a lower surface that is opposite tothe upper surface; a radio-frequency (RF) module embedded near the uppersurface of the base; an integrated circuit (IC) die mounted on the lowersurface of the base in a flip-chip manner so that a backside of the ICdie is available for heat dissipation; a plurality of conductivestructures disposed on the lower surface of the base and arranged aroundthe IC die; and a metal thermal interface layer comprising a backsidemetal layer that is in contact with the backside of the IC die, and asolder paste conformally printed on the backside metal layer.

According to some embodiments, the RF module comprises a top antennalayer and a bottom antenna layer spaced apart from the top antennalayer, and at least one dielectric layer interposed between the topantenna layer and the bottom antenna layer.

According to some embodiments, the backside metal layer comprises Au.

According to some embodiments, the solder paste comprises lead-freesolder comprising tin, copper, silver, bismuth, indium, zinc, orantimony.

According to some embodiments, the base comprises metal traces and viasfor interconnection.

According to some embodiments, the conductive structures areelectrically connected to the RF module of the base through the metaltraces and vias.

According to some embodiments, the IC die is an RFIC die.

According to some embodiments, the semiconductor package furtherincludes an underfill disposed in the gap between the IC die and thelower surface of the base.

According to some embodiments, a combined thickness of the underfill,the IC die, and the metal thermal interface layer is substantially equalto a ball height of the solder balls measured from the lower surface ofthe base.

According to some embodiments, the solder paste is thicker than thebackside metal layer.

Another aspect of the invention provides a printed circuit boardassembly including a print circuit board (PCB) having an upper surfacedirectly facing the lower surface of the base. The PCB comprises anarray of conductive thermal pads on the upper surface of the PCB. Aplurality of thermal vias is disposed within the PCB under the array ofcopper thermal pads. A heat spreading structure is mounted onto a lowersurface of the PCB. The heat spreading structure is in thermal contactwith the plurality of thermal vias. The semiconductor package is mountedon the array of conductive thermal pads.

According to some embodiments, the plurality of thermal vias comprisesplated though holes.

According to some embodiments, the heat spreading structure comprises aheat sink.

According to some embodiments, the solder paste is in direct contactwith the array of conductive thermal pads.

According to some embodiments, the array of conductive thermal padscomprises slits between the thermal pads and the slits are filled withthe solder paste.

Still another aspect of the invention provides a printed circuit boardassembly, including a printed circuit board (PCB) having an uppersurface directly facing the lower surface of the base. The PCB comprisesan array of conductive thermal pads on the upper surface of the PCB. Aplurality of thermal vias is disposed within the PCB under the array ofcopper thermal pads. A heat spreading structure is mounted onto a lowersurface of the PCB. The heat spreading structure is in thermal contactwith the plurality of thermal vias. A heat spreading structure ismounted onto the lower surface of the PCB and is in thermal contact withthe thermal vias. The semiconductor package is mounted on the array ofconductive thermal pads.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention can be more fully understood by reading thesubsequent detailed description and examples with references made to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a semiconductor package according toone embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic, cross-sectional diagram showing an exemplary PCBassembly including the semiconductor package in FIG. 1 according to oneembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 3 to FIG. 6 are schematic, cross-sectional diagrams showingsemiconductor packages in accordance with various embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carryingout the invention. This description is made for the purpose ofillustrating the general principles of the invention and should not betaken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is determined byreference to the appended claims.

The present invention will be described with respect to particularembodiments and with reference to certain drawings, but the invention isnot limited thereto and is only limited by the claims. The drawingsdescribed are only schematic and are non-limiting. In the drawings, thesize of some of the elements may be exaggerated for illustrativepurposes and not drawn to scale. The dimensions and the relativedimensions do not correspond to actual dimensions in the practice of theinvention.

In general, the present disclosure pertains to a semiconductor packagecomprising at least one integrated circuit (IC) die attached to asubstrate in, for example, a “flip chip” configuration. In such a flipchip configuration, bumps are formed on signal pads or terminals of theIC die, and the IC die may be inverted (“flipped”) and attached tosubstrate by reflowing bumps so that they attach to corresponding padson the surface of substrate. The IC die may be one of the many types ofIC dies. For example, IC die may be a radio-frequency (RF) IC die, amicroprocessor die, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC),or a memory die according to various embodiments.

The substrate may be one of the different types of substrates known tothose skilled in the relevant arts (e.g., organic or inorganicsubstrates). The substrate may be made from one or more conductivelayers bonded with a dielectric material. For example, the dielectricmaterial may be made from various substances, such as bismaleimidetriazine (BT). The conductive layers may be made from a metal, orcombination of metals, such as copper and aluminum, that facilitatecoupling between IC die and solder balls. Trace or routing patterns maybe made in the conductive layer by, for example, etching the conductivelayer. The substrate may be a single-layer, a two-layer, or multi-layersubstrate.

The exemplary semiconductor package may be a RFIC chip package withantenna array structure that is particularly suited for millimeter wave(mmW) applications or radar systems. However, it is to be appreciatedthat the principles of the present invention should not be limited toany particular package type or IC die. Rather, the principles of theinvention are directed broadly to techniques for improved thermalinterface material application in the fabrication process of a printedcircuit board (PCB) assembly that includes an integrated circuit packageand a heat transfer device.

FIG. 1 is a schematic, cross-sectional diagram showing an exemplarysemiconductor package in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. As shown in FIG. 1 , the semiconductor package 1 comprises abase 10 having a radio-frequency (RF) structure 11 embedded near anupper surface 10 a of the base 10. In some embodiment, the base 10 couldbe a package substrate, a silicon interposer or a printed circuit board(PCB). In other embodiments, the radio-frequency (RF) structure 11 maycomprise an antenna array, for example, the radio-frequency (RF)structure 11 may comprise a top antenna layer 111 and a bottom antennalayer 112 spaced apart from the top antenna layer 111. For example, atleast one dielectric layer 113 may be interposed between the top antennalayer 111 and the bottom antenna layer 112. According to one embodiment,the top antenna layer 111 and the bottom antenna layer 112 may be formedin the upper metal layers of the base 10, but not limited thereto. Thebase 10 may comprise metal traces 114 and vias 115 for interconnection.

According to one embodiment, for example, the semiconductor package 1may further comprise an IC die 20 such as an RFIC die mounted on thelower surface 10 b of the base 10. The IC die 20 may be mounted on thelower surface 10 b in a flip-chip manner so that the backside 20 b ofthe IC die 20 is exposed and available for heat dissipation. Theflip-chip type connection is a method for interconnecting a flipped ICdie 20 to external circuitry with bumps 202 such as micro bumps orcopper pillar bumps disposed on the chip pads of the IC die 20. Thebumps 202 are aligned with and electrically connected to the copper pads116 disposed at the lower surface 10 b of the base 10. Optionally, anunderfill 210 may be applied to the gap between the IC die 20 and thelower surface 10 b of the base 10.

According to one embodiment, for example, the semiconductor package 1may further comprise a plurality of conductive pads 118 disposed on thelower surface 10 b of the base 10 and arranged around the IC die 20. Theconductive pads 118 may be electrically connected to the circuitincluding the RF structure 11 of the base 10 through the metal traces114 and vias 115. A plurality of conductive structures 120 such as ballgrid array (BGA) balls may be disposed on the conductive pads 118,respectively, for electrically connecting the circuit including the RFstructure 11 11 of the base 10 with the external circuit device such asa printed circuit board (PCB).

According to one embodiment, for example, the semiconductor package 1may further comprise a metal thermal interface layer 30. The metalthermal interface layer 30 may be a metal bi-layer structure comprisinga backside metal layer 310 that is in direct contact with the backside20 b of the IC die 20, and a solder paste 320 conformally printed on thebackside metal layer 310. According to one embodiment, preferably, thebackside metal layer 220 may comprise Au, but not limited thereto. Forexample, the backside metal layer 220 may be Au layer that is sputteredonto the backside 20 b of the IC die 20.

For example, the solder paste (or pre-solder) 320 may be formed bystencil printing methods, but not limited thereto. For example, thesolder paste 320 may comprise any lead-free solders in commercial use,which may contain tin, copper, silver, bismuth, indium, zinc, antimony,and traces of other metals. According to one embodiment, for example,the solder paste 320 may be thicker than the backside metal layer 310.It is noteworthy that the metal thermal interface layer 30 does notcomprise a conventional thermal interface material (TIM) such as thermalgrease or conductive polymer.

According to one embodiment, the combined thickness of the underfill210, the IC die 20, and the metal thermal interface layer 30 issubstantially equal to the ball height h of the conductive structures120 measured from the lower surface 10 b of the base 10.

Please refer to FIG. 2 . FIG. 2 is a schematic, cross-sectional diagramshowing an exemplary PCB assembly including the semiconductor package inFIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the exemplary PCB assembly 2 comprises a PCB 4 having an upper surface4 a directly facing the lower surface 10 b of the base 10. According toone embodiment, an array of copper thermal pads 410 may be disposedwithin a solder resist opening 402 a in the solder resist layer 402 onthe upper surface 4 a of the PCB 4.

According to one embodiment, the span of the array of conductive thermalpads 410 may be in commensurate with the area of the backside 20 b ofthe IC die 20. According to one embodiment, the span of the array ofconductive thermal pads 410 may be slightly greater than the area of thebackside 20 b of the IC die 20. For example, the distance from the edgeof the IC die 20 to the perimeter of the array of conductive thermalpads 410 may be about 150 micrometers, but not limited thereto.

According to one embodiment, slits or gaps 411 may be formed between theadjacent conductive thermal pads 410. According to one embodiment, aplurality of thermal vias 420 is formed within the PCB 4 under the arrayof the conductive thermal pads 410. According to one embodiment, thethermal vias 420 are in thermal contact with the conductive thermal pads410, respectively. According to one embodiment, the thermal vias 420 areplated though holes. According to one embodiment, a heat spreadingstructure 5 such as a heat sink may be mounted onto the lower surface 4b of the PCB 4. The heat spreading structure 5 is in thermal contactwith the thermal vias 420.

According to one embodiment, the semiconductor package 1 as depicted inFIG. 1 is mounted onto the upper surface 4 a of the PCB 4 such that thesolder paste 320 is laminated onto the array of conductive thermal pads410. With suitable pressing force, the solder paste 320 may be forced(or squeezed) into the slits 411. By providing such configuration, moreheat dissipating surface area may be produced. The conductive structures120 are aligned with matching pads 412 on the upper surface 4 a of thePCB 4. The solder paste 320 and the conductive structures 120 may besubjected to a reflow process so as to form permanent bond. The metalthermal interface layer 30 is used as a high-efficiency heat transfermedium that allows heat energy to rapidly move from the IC die 20 to theconductive thermal pads 410 and plated thermal vias 420 of the PCB 40 tothe heat spreading structure 5. Further, it is advantageous to use thepresent invention because the adhesion between the semiconductor package1 and the PCB 4 can be significantly improved.

Please refer to FIG. 3 to FIG. 6 . FIG. 3 to FIG. 6 are schematic,cross-sectional diagrams showing semiconductor packages in accordancewith various embodiment of the invention. For example, the illustrativesemiconductor packages may be a hybrid CSP having a flip-chip die and awire-bonded die stacked on the flip-chip die.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the semiconductor package 3 a comprises a base 100having a top surface 100 a and a bottom surface 100 b. A plurality ofconnecting elements 1002 such as solder balls may be disposed on thebottom surface 100 b for further connection. A semiconductor chip 101 ismounted on the top surface 100 a of the base 100. In a non-limitingexample, the semiconductor chip 101 may be a system-on-a-chip (SoC) andmay generate heat during operation.

According to one embodiment, the semiconductor chip 101 may be mountedon the top surface 100 a in a flip-chip manner by aligning andconnecting the bumps (micro bumps or copper pillar bumps) 1011 on theactive surface of the semiconductor chip 101 with the matching pads 1001on the top surface 100 a of the base 100. An optional underfill 110 maybe applied to fill the gap between the semiconductor chip 101 and thetop surface 100 a of the base 100.

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor chip (or package) 103 maybe stacked directly on the semiconductor chip 101 and may beelectrically coupled to the base 10 by using wire bonding WB. In anon-limiting example, the semiconductor chip 103 may be a memory chip;In another example, the semiconductor chip 103 may be a Known Good Die(KGD) chip, but is not limited thereto. According to one embodiment, thesemiconductor chip 103 may be adhered to the top surface of thesemiconductor chip 101 by using a die attach film (DAF) 102 comprising,for example, an epoxy adhesive layer. According to one embodiment, forexample, the DAF 102 has thermal conductivity of about 0.3 W/m-K.

According to one embodiment, the semiconductor package 3 a furthercomprises an in-package heat dissipating element 105 such as a dummysilicon die that is adhered on the top surface of the semiconductor chip103 by using a high-thermal conductive die attach film (high-thermalconductive DAF) 104. According to one embodiment, the high-thermalconductive DAF 104 is an adhesive film with high thermal conductiveproperty. According to one embodiment, the high-thermal conductive DAF104 has a higher thermal conductivity than that of the DAF 102.According to one embodiment, for example, the high-thermal conductiveDAF 104 may have thermal conductivity of about 2-50 W/m-K.

According to one embodiment, the semiconductor package 3 a furthercomprises a molding compound 500 that encapsulates the semiconductor die101, the semiconductor die 103, and the heat dissipating element 105.According to one embodiment, for example, the molding compound 500 mayhave thermal conductivity of about 2-8 W/m-K; for another example, themolding compound 500 may have thermal conductivity of 1 W/m-K.

In FIG. 4 , likewise, the semiconductor package 3 b comprises a base100, a semiconductor chip 101 such as an SoC mounted on the base 100 ina flip-chip manner, a semiconductor chip 103 such as a DRAM chip adheredonto the semiconductor chip 101 by using a DAF 102, a heat dissipatingelement 104 such as a dummy silicon die adhered onto the semiconductorchip 103 by using a high-thermal conductive DAF 104. The differencebetween the semiconductor package 3 a in FIG. 3 and the semiconductorpackage 3 b in FIG. 4 is that the top surface 105 a of the heatdissipating element 105 is exposed to air. To form such configuration,the molding compound 500 may be subjected to a polishing or grindingprocess. After removing a portion of the molding compound 500, the topsurface 105 a of the heat dissipating element 105 may be flush with thetop surface of the molding compound 500.

In FIG. 5 , instead of attaching the heat dissipating element 105 ontothe semiconductor die 103, the heat dissipating element 105 of thesemiconductor package 5 a is attached to the top surface of thesemiconductor die 101 by using a high-thermal conductive DAF 104 aspreviously described. Therefore, the semiconductor die 103 and the heatdissipating element 105 are both attached onto the top surface of thesemiconductor die 101 in a side-by-side manner.

In FIG. 6 , likewise, the semiconductor package 5 b comprises a base100, a semiconductor chip 101 such as an SoC mounted on the base 100 ina flip-chip manner, a semiconductor chip 103 such as a DRAM chip adheredonto the semiconductor chip 101 by using a DAF 102, a heat dissipatingelement 104 such as a dummy silicon die adhered onto the semiconductorchip 101 by using a high-thermal conductive DAF 104. The differencebetween the semiconductor package 5 a in FIG. 5 and the semiconductorpackage 5 b in FIG. 6 is that the top surface 105 a of the heatdissipating element 105 is exposed to air.

According to one embodiment, the semiconductor chip 101 is a major heatsource of the semiconductor package 3 a and the heat needs to be rapidlyremoved from the semiconductor package 3 a to the ambient environment.By providing the configuration through FIG. 3 to FIG. 6 , the thermalperformance is significant improved (˜50% improvement). For example, themeasured theta JC (θ_(JC)) of the illustrative semiconductor package 5 bin FIG. 6 may be about 2.20.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the abovedisclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and boundsof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A printed circuit board assembly, comprising: aprint circuit board (PCB) having an upper surface directly facing thelower surface of the base, wherein the PCB comprises an array ofconductive thermal pads on the upper surface of the PCB, a plurality ofthermal vias within the PCB under the array of conductive thermal pads,a heat spreading structure mounted onto a lower surface of the PCB,wherein the heat spreading structure is in thermal contact with theplurality of thermal vias; and a semiconductor package mounted on thearray of conductive thermal pads, the semiconductor package comprising:a base comprising an upper surface and a lower surface that is oppositeto the upper surface; a radio-frequency (RF) module embedded near theupper surface of the base; an integrated circuit (IC) die mounted on thelower surface of the base in a flip-chip manner so that a backside ofthe IC die is available for heat dissipation; a plurality of conductivestructures disposed on the lower surface of the base and arranged aroundthe IC die; and a metal thermal interface layer comprising a backsidemetal layer that is in contact with the backside of the IC die, and asolder paste conformally printed on the backside metal layer, whereinthe solder paste is in direct contact with the array of conductivethermal pads, wherein the array of conductive thermal pads comprisesslits between the thermal pads and the slits are filled with the solderpaste.
 2. The printed circuit board assembly according to claim 1,wherein the plurality of thermal vias comprises plated through holes. 3.The printed circuit board assembly according to claim 1, wherein theheat spreading structure comprises a heat sink.
 4. The printed circuitboard assembly according to claim 1, wherein the RF module comprises atop antenna layer and a bottom antenna layer spaced apart from the topantenna layer, and at least one dielectric layer interposed between thetop antenna layer and the bottom antenna layer.
 5. The printed circuitboard assembly according to claim 1, wherein the backside metal layercomprises Au.
 6. The printed circuit board assembly according to claim1, wherein the solder paste comprises lead-free solder comprising tin,copper, silver, bismuth, indium, zinc, or antimony.
 7. The printedcircuit board assembly according to claim 1, wherein the base comprisesmetal traces and vias for interconnection.
 8. The printed circuit boardassembly according to claim 7, wherein the conductive structures areelectrically connected to the RF module of the base through the metaltraces and vias.
 9. The printed circuit board assembly according toclaim 1, wherein the IC die is an RFIC die.
 10. The printed circuitboard assembly according to claim 1 further comprising: an underfilldisposed in a gap between the IC die and the lower surface of the base.11. The printed circuit board assembly according to claim 10, wherein acombined thickness of the underfill, the IC die, and the metal thermalinterface layer is substantially equal to a ball height of the solderballs measured from the lower surface of the base.
 12. The printedcircuit board assembly according to claim 1, wherein the solder paste isthicker than the backside metal layer.